


Starship Captain, Part VI: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D (2364-2371)

by mrpicard



Series: Starship Captain [6]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Movies)
Genre: Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-02-15 16:59:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2236584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrpicard/pseuds/mrpicard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean-Luc Picard's years aboard the Enterprise-D.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_2365_   
_USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D_   
_Ready Room_

 

 

Jean-Luc was just about to get himself a cup of tea from the replicator when the door chimed.  
  
"Come," he barked, annoyed at the interruption – at least until he looked up and saw his visitor.  
  
"Hello, Captain."

She looked exactly like she had back then, the only thing that was different was the huge hat that was just about twice the size of her head.  
  
He gaped at her. "How… how… did you get here?!"  
  
She shrugged and smiled. "I just _did_." She looked around. "Nice ready room. Nice ship, too. Yes, I think I'm going to like it here."  
  
"What...?" Jean-Luc exclaimed, unable to comprehend what she was even saying.  
  
"I heard you're looking for someone to run the bar, this Ten Forward of yours."  
  
"Yes…?"  
  
She smiled even more broadly. "I happen to be a good bartender. Think you could put in a good word?"


	2. Chapter 2

 

_2367_  
 _U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D_  
 _Captain's Quarters_  
  
  
  
  
About 11,000 people. Dead.  
  
39 starships. Blown to bits.  
  
And it was all _his_ fault.  
  
The Borg had simply ripped the knowledge of battle tactics, ship specifications and shield frequencies from his mind, without much effort.  
  
And what had _he_ done to prevent it?  
  
Nothing.  
  
Sure, he had tried, so hard.  
  
But he hadn't been strong enough.  
  
He had been weak, so incredibly weak.  
  
Jean-Luc closed his eyes for a few seconds.  
  
He didn't know if he would ever be able to forgive himself for what he had done.

_They_ certainly wouldn't.  
  
 _They_ \- the thousands of people who had lost at least one of their loved ones at Wolf 359 because of _his_ weakness.  
  
They hated him.  
  
He couldn't blame them.


	3. Chapter 3

_2368_   
_U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D_   
_Captain's Quarters_

 

 

 

Jean-Luc looked at the flute that he was holding.  
  
And remembered.  
  
Only two days ago he had been an old man named Kamin who had just been playing with his grandson Kamie when his son had come to tell him that it was time to go and watch the launch of a strange missile.  
  
Once outside, everything had changed, the whole world as he had gotten to know it had been turned upside down, just like that.  
  
Suddenly Eline, his dear, beloved Eline had been there, looking as young and beautiful as she had appeared to him in his dreams from time to time. His (also long dead) friend Batai had been there as well, and they had told him that it was all good now and that he should remember them and their culture - because they all had died much longer ago than he had assumed.  
  
Before he had been able to fully comprehend what they were trying to say there had been a bright flash and he had woken up on the bridge of the Enterprise, back aboard his starship that he had never really been able to forget.  
  
He remembered the countless times when he had looked up at the sky in a futile attempt to spot the Enterprise up there and he remembered how he had waited for the familiar sound of the transporter beam and to see Riker, Worf and Data standing in front of him, telling him that all this was some kind of misunderstanding or one of Q's pranks, or both and neither.  
  
But nothing of that sort had happened, and, after a while, he had begun to realize that he would have to adjust to life on Kataan. He had missed the Enterprise and all it represented - terribly, in fact, he didn't even want to _think_ of all the nights in which he had cried himself to sleep - but Eline had always been there for him, patient, supportive and loving; and, over time, he had been able to find peace in her arms.  
  
And now? Now he was faced with the cold, harsh truth that his entire life on Kataan had been an illusion and that only 25 minutes had passed on the Enterprise whereas, for him, 42 years had gone by.

It was almost too much to take, and he knew that he would need time to get back into his life as Jean-Luc Picard, time to remember how things worked, time to re-fresh his memories of ship's operations, interstellar politics and Starfleet regulations. Deanna had offered her assistance as well, and, for once, he had agreed immmediately that he needed it.  
  
 _Badly_.  
  
He took the flute from its case, closed his hand around it and didn't even try to fight the tears that were streaming down his cheeks.


	4. Chapter 4

 

 _2371_  
_U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D_  
_Captain's Quarters_

 

 

Jean-Luc gently touched the pictures of his brother and nephew that he had put into his huge Picard family album quite some time ago.  
  
Marie had told him in her frequent messages that René had been talking about nothing but starships ever since Jean-Luc had visited them. Robert had apparently not been pleased, of course, but Marie had assured Jean-Luc that he was not actually throwing magazines into fi-  
  
Jean-Luc bit his lower lip.  
  
A fire was what had killed Robert and René.  
  
It was insane; he was in danger out here in space every day - by all logical means _he_ should have been the one who died, not _them_. And now? Now there would be no more fighting with Robert and there would be no more René talking about starships.  
  
_He_ was the last Picard.  
  
Jean-Luc buried his face in his hands and began to cry.


	5. Chapter 5

 

_2371_  
 _Veridian III_  
  
  
  
  
Jean-Luc stood on top of the mountain and looked down at her - or rather, at what was _left_ of her.  
  
The Stargazer had belonged to another captain before him, but _she_ had not. She had been his from the beginning, and she had trusted him and him only.   
  
And he?   
  
He hadn't even been there when her engineering section had exploded and he had not stood on her bridge when Deanna and Will had crash-landed her saucer section here on Veridian III.  
  
He had not been with her in _any_ of her final moments.  
  
A captain should always go down with his ship, and he hadn't.  
  
Would she ever forgive him?


End file.
